UK Politics

[steviewevie]

43 minutes ago, kaosmark2 said:

The one I liked most was this:

Setting a 20% higher minimum wage for people on zero-hour contracts at times of normal demand to compensate them for the uncertainty of fluctuating hours of work

 

It's a much better solution to companies doing 0-hr contracts than banning them altogether. There's a lot of times they're good for the worker as well as the business.

we'll see what is in manifesto but don't think Labour are banning them either, which is what has pissed off Unite (along with risks to oil/gas jobs).

[Neil]

2 minutes ago, Nobody Interesting said:

Labour has dropped a plan to reintroduce a cap on how much people are allowed to save into their pensions before paying tax, after lobbying from senior NHS doctors.

Under the pensions lifetime allowance, pension pots over £1.07m faced an annual tax of £40,000 on average.

It was scrapped in April, but there remain unfixed issues with the legislation which affect some people.

Shadow chancellor Rachel Reeves had originally vowed to bring back the allowance, which could raise £800m a year, but Labour has now dropped it ahead of the planned released of its manifesto on Thursday.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cd11n2krmm4o

why would they have had that policy in the first place if the average joe doesn't have million quid pension pots?

[Neil]

1 minute ago, steviewevie said:

we'll see what is in manifesto but don't think Labour are banning them either, which is what has pissed off Unite (along with risks to oil/gas jobs).

dear businesses :- you can no longer budget for staff wages, because you can't have a clue what they'll be - instead businesses will change contracts so they know what they'll pay out on wages - the losers will be the workers.

[fraybentos1]

20 minutes ago, Neil said:

i know lots of average joes with huge pension pots, 40 years as a senior local authority manager will do it. or 25 years as a university professor.

The benefit of being a boomer. gold plated pensions 

 

14 minutes ago, Neil said:

for some* reason i saw that as -2.

 

(*possibly the brain damaged i've suffered which the likes of frey knows about, but he always comes in with size twelve c**tish). bet he used to hang outside his local special school to abuse the kids.

don't guilt trip me Neil, we both know you're looking for any possible reason to jump on the whole 'greens are awful and won't do well' shtick you're focusing on now. This isn't the first time you've been all over Greens polling numbers soon as they're posted. Either way regardless of the number in question the notion that Reform was pinching votes was for the birds anyway, total nonsense even if it was showing Greens -2, Reform +2.

 

 

[Neil]

2 minutes ago, fraybentos1 said:

The benefit of being a boomer. gold plated pensions 

 

don't guilt trip me Neil, we both know you're looking for any possible reason to jump on the whole 'greens are awful and won't do well' shtick you're focusing on now. This isn't the first time you've been all over Greens polling numbers soon as they're posted. Either way regardless of the number in question the notion that Reform was pinching votes was for the birds anyway, total nonsense even if it was showing Greens -2, Reform +2.

 

 

from reading plenty of anecdotal comment over many months/years, I've noticed that a large number of green and reform/ukip voters claim the same motivation (wanting to vote for a different party to the normal's.): you rarely see eithers' voters raving about their fantastic policies.

[lazyred]

18 minutes ago, Neil said:

why would they have had that policy in the first place if the average joe doesn't have million quid pension pots?

Most people have nowhere near 1 million pensions. When it was brought in it was aimed at wealthy people but the allowance was reduced/frozen and started causing problems for doctors and other top paid public employees. Public sector pensions  are valued at 20X pension plus lump sum so a 50k pension with 100k lump sum will break the allowance.

[kaosmark2]

31 minutes ago, Neil said:

for some* reason i saw that as -2.

 

(*possibly the brain damaged i've suffered which the likes of frey knows about, but he always comes in with size twelve c**tish). bet he used to hang outside his local special school to abuse the kids.

Mod Voice

 

Neil, if you're going to dish it out, picking arguments with people, and attacking them, you do not get to then suggest you're being targeted when they respond, particularly on disability grounds.

 

Multiple members of the moderation team have both asked you privately to reduce the personal stuff against other users, and restricted your posting for it, but don't try to suggest that your long-running arguments with fray are an ableism issue. You've both rankled at each other for years.

[Neil]

3 minutes ago, lazyred said:

Most people have nowhere near 1 million pensions

no one said most people do.

 

someone said corbyn is an exception.i gave some examples to show hes not.

[Neil]

3 minutes ago, kaosmark2 said:

Mod Voice

 

Neil, if you're going to dish it out, picking arguments with people, and attacking them, you do not get to then suggest you're being targeted when they respond, particularly on disability grounds.

 

 

i'm pointing out that i have a disability, and that some who know about it, don't make allowances for it, 

3 minutes ago, kaosmark2 said:

Multiple members of the moderation team have both asked you privately to reduce the personal stuff against other users

thats not true. looks like some people have been telling you porkies.if others aren't making allowances the same comes back at them, and will continue to.

[pink_triangle]

6 hours ago, LJS said:

What an inspiring choice of  leaders! The Tory party, and indeed the Nation is indeed fortunate to have such a wealth of talent at their disposal.

There’s probably not a huge political difference (view of nationalism and brexit) between these politicians and the SNP Deputy leader.

[pink_triangle]

4 hours ago, steviewevie said:

 Lib Dem manifesto main pledges:

 

- Give everyone a new right to see a GP within seven days, or 24 hours if it’s urgent, with the extra doctors needed to "make it happen" and by introducing a universal 24/7 GP booking system

 

 

I don’t have an issue with most of these pledges but as a health professional I have an issue with the “right to see a gp “ within 7 days. One of the reason it  is hard to see a GO is because of people who don’t need to see a GP clogging up the system. The right to see a GP should be based on clinical need and not a generic target.

[LJS]

3 minutes ago, pink_triangle said:

There’s probably not a huge political difference (view of nationalism and brexit) between these politicians and the SNP Deputy leader.

she may hold some views that neither you nor I share, PT, but I would that suggest that she appears to possess a level of competence way above that list of aspiring Tory leaders. 
not really quite sure why you are bringing her into it at all to be honest.

[Nobody Interesting]

23 minutes ago, pink_triangle said:

I don’t have an issue with most of these pledges but as a health professional I have an issue with the “right to see a gp “ within 7 days. One of the reason it  is hard to see a GO is because of people who don’t need to see a GP clogging up the system. The right to see a GP should be based on clinical need and not a generic target.

 

Our GP surgery (Wales) recently moved to an online form for contact (you can phone and reception fill sit in for you if you want).
All forms are seen by the clinician and normally within 2 hours and a decision made as to urgency and what type of appt and when is needed.

So far all the feedback is positive and my personal experiences are both really good.

My only criticism of it is that when they get busy with lots of forms being submitted they take the form offline until they catch up.

[Neil]

30 minutes ago, pink_triangle said:

I don’t have an issue with most of these pledges but as a health professional I have an issue with the “right to see a gp “ within 7 days. One of the reason it  is hard to see a GO is because of people who don’t need to see a GP clogging up the system. The right to see a GP should be based on clinical need and not a generic target.

only good if they can get the doctors to do it? problem is (for job protection) that current doctors set limits on the numbers of new doctors that can be trained. so they'll always want too few to maintain their self importance.

[steviewevie]

22 minutes ago, LJS said:

she may hold some views that neither you nor I share, PT, but I would that suggest that she appears to possess a level of competence way above that list of aspiring Tory leaders. 
not really quite sure why you are bringing her into it at all to be honest.

 

the thing is...I would argue on paper they should all be considered competent, you look at their education and what they did before becoming politicians, and then how high they got in government, there must be something there. Braverman for example who comes across as a useless dumbarse populist is a clever woman and apparently well respected by people who work with her...but she does and says all this stuff that just makes you think what the f**k is that. Plus, being home secretary seems to be the worse job to get, everyone comes out of that one tarnished.. the department is too big, and to be fair she just used it for her own political gain and not what was actually good for the country, same with Patel.

I actually think they should choose Cleverly, not sure he's the most dynamic/groovy choice, but he seems to not be a maniac, is pretty good at media, like s good rape joke etc. They'll probably pick Braverman though, who is definitely smart, but I have doubts if she'll be any good as leader, too abrasive.

[Neil]

13 minutes ago, Nobody Interesting said:

Our GP surgery (Wales) recently moved to an online form for contact

my new surgery uses an online form, used it first thing this morning, and had a call from the surgery within ten mins. worked really well, apart from them telling me they'd send the prescription to the chemist in the morning, at 12 the chemist didn't have it, i then had the runaround to chase it down and get it. 

 

not perfect, but hugely better than the doc's I've moved from. not sure i'd have got the prescription sorted from my old doc's. I've had to get 111 to sort it for them before now.

Edited June 10 by Neil

[pink_triangle]

28 minutes ago, LJS said:

she may hold some views that neither you nor I share, PT, but I would that suggest that she appears to possess a level of competence way above that list of aspiring Tory leaders. 
not really quite sure why you are bringing her into it at all to be honest.

I don’t really agree at all. From a political perspective she is socially more conservative than the likes of Mourdant and Cleverly and probably they are more economically conservative (although not by a huge deal) than Forbes. Let’s face it there are many SNP voters and political representatives with similar political views to those two Torys.

 

In terms of competence I don’t see much evidence that Forbes is more confident. In fact I suspect Mourdant would scare UK labour more than Forbes would scare Scottish labour. I actually think Cleverly and Mourdant come across as pretty competent. It’s their politics which would stop me voting for them and not their competence. I would also be happy if either is conservative leader after the election.

[pink_triangle]

14 minutes ago, Nobody Interesting said:

 

Our GP surgery (Wales) recently moved to an online form for contact (you can phone and reception fill sit in for you if you want).
All forms are seen by the clinician and normally within 2 hours and a decision made as to urgency and what type of appt and when is needed.
 

To me that triage is important , some people need to see a GP and some don’t. If everyone who wants to see a GP is given that opportunity, it means people who are in more clinical need wait longer for their reviews.

[steviewevie]

Conservatives way ahead on this one

 

[Neil]

54 minutes ago, pink_triangle said:

I actually think Cleverly and Mourdant come across as pretty competent

that's quite easy when the comparison is a measure against other tory MPs.

[Neil]

1 hour ago, Nobody Interesting said:

 

Our GP surgery (Wales) recently moved to an online form for contact (you can phone and reception fill sit in for you if you want).
All forms are seen by the clinician and normally within 2 hours and a decision made as to urgency and what type of appt and when is needed.

So far all the feedback is positive and my personal experiences are both really good.

My only criticism of it is that when they get busy with lots of forms being submitted they take the form offline until they catch up.

i think they need to be more-like dominos pizza with good feedback on what is happening, the problem with online systems is that it can feel like your request has gone into a blackhole. knowing a bit about its progress can be very reassuring.

[Neil]

56 minutes ago, pink_triangle said:

To me that triage is important , some people need to see a GP and some don’t. If everyone who wants to see a GP is given that opportunity, it means people who are in more clinical need wait longer for their reviews.

if you know you can get an appointment you don't hold back from trying to get one..

 

i've just remembered my old GP has been hassling me for a medical review. might be worth telling my new GP that, cos they might want to pick it up?

[Neil]

Just now, Neil said:

if you know you can get an appointment you don't hold back from trying to get one..

 

i've just remembered my old GP has been hassling me for a medical review. might be worth telling my new GP that, cos they might want to pick it up?

just gone to new gp's online system, which says its offline until 5am tomorrow. 😞 

[Neil]

was just wondering if we could do an election playlist with songs about politicians?

[Neil]

4 minutes ago, Neil said:

was just wondering if we could do an election playlist with songs about politicians?

i've got 2 suggestions:-

 

president gas; psychedelic furs.

chase dem; stephen marley.